Brady Clark, Aiello brothers lead Bayport-Blue Point to undefeated regular season
Bayport Blue Point's Daniel Aiello gets by Glenn's Mario Bento in the first quarter during the Suffolk Division IV football game on Oct. 21, 2022. Credit: Bob Sorensen
Bayport-Blue Point has been at the center of the Suffolk Division IV universe all season. On Friday night, its gravitational pull was just too much for Glenn.
Running back Danny Aiello and quarterback Brady Clark led the way in a 42-12 victory at Bob Sullivan Field as host Bayport-Blue Point finished its regular season without a blemish.
Bayport-Blue Point (7-0) is unbeaten at the end of the regular season for the first time since 1990. It will pursue a third county title and first since 1991 when the postseason begins in two weeks.
“Really this is a step in the right direction for us, but we have bigger goals,” Clark said. “We lost the championship game last season and that was a brutal loss, but this is a new team and we feel like we’ve introduced ourselves. This regular season, we let everybody know who we are.”
“This hasn’t been done in a long time and that is a tremendous thing,” said JJ Aiello, Danny’s brother. “The most important thing, though, was going into the playoffs with a win. We couldn’t go in with a loss; it would have taken all the momentum away. This way we keep rolling.”
Glenn (5-2) entered the season as the No. 6 seed and climbed the standings as the year went on. It is likely to be the No. 3 seed for the playoffs.
Danny Aiello rushed 23 times for 197 yards, including a 47-yard touchdown. The 6- and 7-yard chunks he was gaining ended up playing the role of canvas for the big-play artistry of Clark and JJ Aiello.
Clark was 6-for-10 passing for 157 yards and two touchdowns — 28- and 80-yarders to JJ Aiello. Clark also ran six times for 83 yards and a pair of touchdowns.
“Danny may not have scored a lot of points, but he was the guy they had to fear,” Clark said. “That fear is the reason we could break big plays. They were thinking about Danny.”
Setting the table for all of it was the solid blocking of the front line of Jesse Munno, Robert Galian, Ryan Bachmore, Jeremiah Lee, Dylan Spano and Derek Varley, who gave Clark plenty of time to pass and lots of holes to run through.
“All the credit has to go to the play of the line,” Danny Aiello said. “Without them, we are nothing.”
Quarterback Chris Franzese and back/receiver KaRhan King had touchdowns for Glenn.
The Phantoms sabotaged their first possession with a big holding penalty but scored on their next three possessions before the half. Clark scored on a 3-yard run on the second possession and capped the third with the 28-yard touchdown pass to JJ Aiello. Danny Aiello finished the fourth possession with his 47-yard TD run.
The opening possession of the second half ended with Franzese getting intercepted by PJ Shanahan. That set up Clark’s 50-yard touchdown run to make it 28-0.
“This is a team that really plays for each other,” Phantoms coach Mike Zafonte said. “We have a saying that ‘two is one and one is none,’ and this team really embodies it.”
Roger Rubin returned to Newsday in 2018 to write about high schools, colleges and baseball following 20 years at the Daily News. A Baseball Hall of Fame voter since 2011, he has covered 13 MLB postseasons and 14 NCAA Final Fours.
